This invention relates generally to a mechanism for determining the number of splines on a shaft and, more specifically, to a mechanism which is especially adapted for counting the number of splines on a shaft independently of the major diameter of the splines.
Many types of malfunctioning automotive assemblies such as constant velocity or CV joints are rebuilt or refurbished for subsequent use. The splined shafts used in these assemblies are frequently returned to a rebuild shop without identification regarding the manufacturer or the model of the shaft. One of the first steps in determining the source of the splined shaft is to determine the number of splines on the shaft and the major diameter of the splines. With the aid of a caliper or a micrometer, determining the major diameter of the splines is relatively easy. A spline gage may be used to determine the number of splines on a shaft. However, due to the wide variety of splined shaft designs that may be encountered, purchasing gage tooling for each size of spline that may be encountered is prohibitively expensive. At present, the only economically viable procedure to determine the number of splines on any one of several shafts having differently sized splines is to manually count the splines.